Keep Factually independent

Whether you agree or disagree with our analysis, these conversations matter for democracy. We don't take money from political groups - even a $5 donation helps us keep it that way.

Loading...Time left: ...
Loading...Goal: $500

Fact check: What is the average number of pardons issued by a US president per year?

Checked on October 18, 2025

Executive Summary

The materials provided do not state a single, supported numerical average of presidential pardons per year, and none of the supplied excerpts compute or cite such an average directly; they instead offer historical examples, recent high-profile uses, and qualitative commentary about presidential pardon behavior [1] [2] [3] [4]. Across the set, the dominant factual findings are that pardons have been used unevenly across presidencies — some presidents issued hundreds, others only double digits — and that contemporary debate focuses on the political uses and limits of the power rather than on a simple per-year metric [3] [2].

1. Why nobody in the provided set gives the average number — and what that omission means for the question

Every provided source discusses presidential pardons contextually — legal history, notable individual pardons, or the political implications of recent presidencies — but none computes an arithmetic mean of pardons per year across presidents or administrations. The lack of an average in these summaries means you cannot extract a defensible per-year figure from this corpus without additional quantitative data, such as a full list of pardons by president and years served; the analyses instead stress qualitative patterns like dramatic outliers (few presidents with many pardons) and recent politicization [1] [2] [3].

2. What the sources do tell us about variation between presidencies

The excerpts collectively show wide variation: some presidents have issued a couple of hundred pardons during a term while others have issued only double-digit counts, and certain historical acts (e.g., Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter) are highlighted as large, single-policy uses of pardon power. Those patterns imply averages would be sensitive to outliers; a mean calculated without accounting for variance and presidency length would be misleading. The pieces emphasize narrative examples and political consequences rather than providing normalized, per-year statistics [3] [1].

3. Recent reporting focuses on political uses rather than on aggregate stats

Recent analyses and reporting included here emphasize how modern presidents have reframed pardon use — for example, commentary about Trump’s controversial and transformative approach and Biden’s relatively small numbers — rather than presenting aggregated annualized rates. That editorial focus reflects current debate priorities: legal norms, clemency politics, and particular pardons’ implications for accountability. Consequently, the supplied material is strong on qualitative context but weak on the quantitative answer you requested [2] [3].

4. The datasets shown are dated and emphasize events, not averages

The items summarizing events include publication dates ranging from October and November 2025 to January 2026, and they detail specific pardons (e.g., Biden’s military pardons) and historical episodes. Their timeliness supports discussion of recent practice, but their form — news and commentary — is not statistical research. The result is a robust, current narrative record of clemency episodes without the numerical consolidation needed to produce a reliable per-year average across presidencies [4] [1].

5. How you could get an accurate average using additional data (methodology implied by omissions)

To produce a defensible per-year average, one needs a comprehensive, sourced dataset listing pardons and commutations by president and their years in office, then compute pardons per year for each presidency and an overall mean, median, and dispersion measures to reflect skew from outliers. The current sources implicitly validate this approach by documenting the uneven usage across presidents and by flagging politically motivated spikes; their omission of such a dataset explains why they do not present an average [3] [1].

6. Multiple viewpoints in the material and potential agendas to watch

The provided pieces include critical perspectives on expansive pardon use and viewpoints that contextualize pardons as longstanding executive power. Critics highlight politicization and norm erosion, while historical treatments present pardons as continuity in executive clemency. These stances reflect potential agendas: advocacy for reform or defense of executive prerogative. The texts’ choices to emphasize narrative examples rather than statistics may serve those agendas by focusing attention on salience rather than on normalized measures [2].

7. Bottom line — what this corpus supports and what remains unanswered

This collection supports the firm conclusion that presidential pardon counts vary widely and that recent presidencies have produced notable outliers, but it does not provide or substantiate a numerical average of pardons per year. Answering your original question requires additional, quantitative sources (an exhaustively compiled clemency dataset by presidency and year) not included here; the supplied materials instead prepare the ground for such a calculation by illustrating why simple averages can be misleading without measures of dispersion and context [1] [3].

Want to dive deeper?
How many pardons did Joe Biden issue in 2024?
Which US president issued the most pardons in a single year?
What is the process for a US president to grant a pardon?
Can a US president pardon themselves?
How do presidential pardon numbers compare to commutations?